To start with, it is extremely good to have Karasu wa Aruji o Erabanai again. However rattling it – that is our first episode in a month. And earlier than that, there hadn’t been one since June twenty second. Whenever you’re speaking about being absent for 7 out of 8 weeks, that’s virtually to the purpose of a cut up cour. Which begs the query – why not simply are a cut up cour at this level? Issues work somewhat in another way on NHK than most anime broadcasts, that is true. However skipping so many weeks actually wasn’t good Yatagarasu all favors to retain the hard-won viewers.
So, did this meaningfully affect the expertise? Not a lot for me. I’ve learn the manga adaptation, which helps. And I used to be already so engrossed within the story that I used to be capable of lose myself in it virtually instantly. The primary couple of minutes felt somewhat off, however after that – meh, it wasn’t an enormous deal. That stated, provided that the one solitary episode in that two-month interval was the primary of a brand new story arc, it’s all of the extra purpose to imagine that it might be higher to cease after the primary episode and decide up now.
We decide up the place we left off – no recaps or something. Yukiya and “Sumimaru” come head to head with the hideous creature that has decimated the village (one among them, anyway). Nazukihiko isn’t any spoiled nobleman, as we all know – he can deal with himself in a battle and decapitates the creature with relative ease. It’s a scene of utter devastation – particularly when the prince seems into some barrels within the storage rooms. There appears to be just one survivor, which Yukiya discovers. However it’s not a human – or if it ever was, it’s within the course of of remodeling into one of many man-eating apes. Yukiya would have most well-liked to be rescued somewhat faster, however Wakamiya saves him anyway.
It’s nonetheless unclear what we’re taking a look at right here. Are these monkeys that may flip into people (a game-changing thought for those who’re a yatagarasu), or people (Sagecap?) that someway flip (or are turned) into monster monkeys? What’s additionally unclear is why Koume, the woman we met earlier, has survived. Yukiya and the prince discover her in a coffin, unscratched and unconscious. She’s nonetheless alive when the three arrive again in Taruhi, the place she’s understandably being held captive and locked in a cell to await her awakening.
Wakamiya returns to the capital to wake them to the menace – he brings “smelling salts” with him – whereas Yukiya’s father leads a military into the countryside to scour the decimated village and surrounding areas. That is clearly a chance for Wakamiya. He will be decisive, commanding – show his price in a disaster the nobles have tried to move off as fantasy. As soon as he reveals off his spoils, even the skeptical (not least of all him) leaders of the 4 nice homes can deny that something unusual and horrible is going on within the north.
All of which brings Yukiya again to Taruhi, the place Koume lastly wakes up. That is probably the most in depth interplay we’ve seen between Yukiya and his household (there’s extra within the manga), and certainly along with his personal individuals. And it’s totally welcome—a special facet to this fascinating boy than what we’ve seen to date. Yukima is nominally chargeable for Koume’s interrogation, but it surely’s Yukiya who asks the pointed questions. Right here, on this second of disaster, he has no selection however to drop his facade of incompetence and reveal himself because the good man he actually is. Yukima, after all, has by no means been fooled, and willingly lets his youthful brother cleared the path.
As I suspected, we see an interesting dynamic creating between Yukiya and Koume. He himself admits that he has no thought find out how to discuss to ladies his age, however he additionally has each purpose to be suspicious of her claims of ignorance. Her story—she acquired drunk at a celebration along with her father and doesn’t bear in mind something afterward—might very nicely be true. However it strains credibility, and Yukiya—hyperprotective of his personal individuals and particularly his household—is skeptical. To make issues worse, his mom invitations Koume to remain within the family when it turns into fairly clear that her lacking service provider father is more than likely lifeless.
One of many issues I like about that is the authenticity of how Yukiya will get upset when he’s pushed out of his consolation zone (Nazukihiko is an professional at this) – in the way in which that actually good youngsters his age do. They’re good sufficient to understand how a lot they don’t know, and it’s unnerving. I additionally love the bond between Yukiya and his mom, Azusa. The 2 aren’t biologically associated, and she or he would have each purpose to resent his presence, however they each adore one another. And mom – maybe not totally wrongly – sees extra in her boy’s fascination with Koume than suspicion and protectiveness. She makes use of this as one other means to upset him, to pressure him and Koume collectively, with fascinating outcomes.
There’s nonetheless loads of explaining to be accomplished in all of this, that is for positive, although Koume’s function is probably the largest thriller from a personality standpoint. Who’s the mysterious priest (?) Tobi (Matsuda Kenichirou – Bond Forger!) so desirous about what’s taking place within the Capitol? What particular function does the drug Sagecap play in inflicting this disaster? It’s actually totally different from the fashion of the primary cour, however Yatagarasu is so good at storytelling and these characters are so fascinating that the present actually does not drop a beat. It is actually nice to have it again.
